nastrahl

[nastrahl]

Tumblr: Only neurotypical people do X. Neurodivergent people never do X. It's literally never necessary to do X, and if you do, you are by definition acting out of malice.

Neurodivergent person whose neurodivergence primarily expresses itself as X:

[nastrahl]

"I think that in one way or another we will do ourselves in. Sooner or later the generation that says, 'We're living our last days,' really will be. But not because somebody strikes us from heaven. We'll do it to ourselves. And, to the future."

[nastrahl]

The Right Wing total adoption of fascism is here.

#VoteBlue

[nastrahl]

[nastrahl]

“For many, the pandemic is not over. People need to continue to wear masks and get vaccinated if they can, in addition to pushing for better air quality and other mitigation efforts, instead of worshiping the individualistic “you do you” philosophy. Even now, with health care facilities in Los Angeles County and other cities reinstating mask mandates, it seems like business as usual with leaders continuing to downplay the pandemic or ignore it altogether.”

— COVID Isn’t Going Anywhere. Masking Up Could Save My Life.

[nastrahl]

This is the infernal triangle that structures American politics.

In one corner, a party consistently ratcheting toward authoritarianism, refusing as a matter of bedrock principle—otherwise they are “Republicans in Name Only”—to compromise with adversaries they frame as ineluctably evil and seek literally to destroy.

In the second corner, a party that says that, in a political culture where there is not enough compromise, the self-evident solution is to offer more compromise—because those guys’ extremist fever, surely, is soon to break …

And in the third corner, those agenda-setting elite political journalists, who frame the Democrats as one of the “sides” in a tragic folie à deux destroying a nation otherwise united and at peace with itself because both sides stubbornly … refuse to compromise.

[nastrahl]

Not all educated people are liberal, but most conservative rhetoric and failed economic/tax policies depend on highly unserious thinkers.

[nastrahl]

We have a tax revenue problem created and made worse by Republican tax cuts.

We have a deficit built almost entirely on Republican borrowing.

Trump's four years alone added $8 TRILLION.

Keep in mind, Trump claimed he would eliminate the deficit.

Several months before the 2016 election, Trump pledged he would be able to eliminate the national debt – then around $19 trillion – “over a period of eight years.” Oct 27, 2020

[nastrahl]

We have a tax revenue problem created and made worse by Republican tax cuts.

We have a deficit built almost entirely on Republican borrowing.

Trump's four years alone added $8 TRILLION.

Keep in mind, Trump claimed he would eliminate the deficit.

Several months before the 2016 election, Trump pledged he would be able to eliminate the national debt – then around $19 trillion – “over a period of eight years.” Oct 27, 2020

[nastrahl]

“The fundamental reality of American politics is that the last transfer of power was not peaceful, because the guy who was voted out of office engaged in a multi-level campaign to nullify the election result that culminated in a violent assault of his supporters on the Capitol – an attempted auto-coup that, had it been successful, would have ended constitutional government in the United States. If that doesn’t have any legal, constitutional consequences for the man at the center of it all, it would not only prove that the president is above the law, that a powerful politician is beyond reproach if they have enough of a radical following that is willing to threaten violence; it would demonstrate to everyone in America that you don’t have to accept election results you don’t like. If the system doesn’t find a way to penalize this, these attempts to undermine elections and the transfer of power by an array of pseudo-legal tricks, flat-out illegal tactics, and a hefty dose of violent intimidation would be established as a permanent temptation. They would become a fixture in American politics.”

— Militant Democracy vs Donald Trump

[nastrahl]

Rockin’ around… the uh… what? Meet the Christmas tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus). This “festive” marine worm lives on tropical coral reefs around the planet. Its name is derived from the spiny fir trees that are emblems of the holiday season. But at just 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) in size, you won’t find any decorations hanging from this species’ “branches.” While part of the worm is buried in the coral, its colorful appendages are used for breathing and for snatching plankton to eat. In ideal conditions, Christmas tree worms can live for up to 40 years!

Photo: John Turnbull, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, flickr

[nastrahl]

All roads lead to Russia. #Kompromat

Ex: NRA was flooded with Russian spies/$$$.

[nastrahl]

From the December 21, 2023 opinion piece:

Lavish world cruises, secret deals with moneyed donors, threats to step down unless someone ponied up with a pay raise, fishing trips with parties who have business before the court, an amicus brief industrial complex wholly bought and paid for by billionaire donations, leaked drafts, and secret speeches are not the stuff of constitutional democracy, or infallibility, or finality. When the hyperpolitical supercharged Trump cases catch up with the court—and that is beginning to happen, right now, this week—all that stench will run headlong into the questions about why the husband of the woman who went to the pep rally for the insurrection and the folks who lied to us all about Dobbs are objective enough to decide the outcome of an election. The same people entrusted with the protecting the reputation of the court have blundered into being wholly responsible for protecting democracy. Not one thing suggests they will take the latter any more seriously than they took the former.

[nastrahl]

Check out my 2023 YouTube Music Recap! Explore yours at:

Here's my recap playlist:

#youtube music recap #YouTubeMusicRecap

[nastrahl]

Screen time for toddlers

[nastrahl]

How Amazon Is Ripping You Off

Shopping on Amazon? Stop! Watch this first.

Amazon is the world’s biggest online retailer. This one single juggernaut of a company is responsible for nearly 40% of all online sales in America. In an FTC lawsuit, they’re accused of using their mammoth size, and consumers’ dependence on them, to artificially jack up prices as high as possible, while prohibiting sellers on Amazon from charging lower prices anywhere else.

They’re accused of using a secret algorithm, codenamed “Project Nessie,” to charge customers an estimated extra $1 billion dollars,

If this isn’t an abuse of power that hurts consumers, what is? So much for all of those “prime” deals you thought you were getting.

Project Nessie isn’t the only trick Amazon has been accused of using to exert its hulking dominance over the online retail industry — leading to higher prices for you.

Much of the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit centers around the treatment of independent merchants who sell items on Amazon’s online superstore — accounting for 60 percent of Amazon’s sales.

Amazon allegedly uses strongarm tactics that force these sellers to keep their prices higher than they need to be. Like barring them from selling products for significantly less at other stores — or else risk being hidden in Amazon’s search results or having their sales stopped entirely.

And Amazon is accused of engaging in pay-to-play schemes and charging merchants excessive fees that end up costing you even more.

Independent sellers are effectively forced to pay Amazon to advertise their products prominently in search results. If they don’t fork over cash, then their products get buried underneath products of companies who do. This hurts sellers but also harms shoppers who have to parse through less relevant products that may be more expensive or lower quality.

And to be eligible for the coveted “Prime” badge on their items — which is considered crucial for competing on the platform — independent sellers are pushed into paying Amazon for additional services like warehousing and shipping, even if they could get those services cheaper elsewhere. If sellers forgo trying to qualify for Prime, their goods apparently become harder for customers to find.

When all of these extra fees are added up, Amazon takes around a 50 percent cut of each sale made by a third party. It’s projected that Amazon will earn around $125 billion from collecting fees in the U.S. in 2023, most of which get passed on to you.

By charging all of these extra fees and stifling independent companies from selling their products for less elsewhere, Amazon is using its dominance to essentially set prices for all consumers across the internet.

And when you combine Amazon’s control of ecommerce with all of the other industries it has entered by gobbling up companies — such as Whole Foods, One Medical, and MGM — you’re left with a behemoth that simply has too much power.

This is all part of a much larger problem of growing corporate dominance in America. In over 75% of U.S. industries, fewer companies now control more of their markets than they did twenty years ago.

The lack of competition and consumer choice has resulted in all of us paying more for goods because corporations like Amazon can raise their prices with impunity. By one estimate, corporate concentration has cost the typical American household $5,000 a year more than they would have spent if markets were truly competitive.

This power isn’t just being used to siphon more money from you. A giant corporation has the power to bust unions, keep workers’ wages low, and funnel money into our political system.

It’s a vicious cycle, making giant corporations more and more powerful.

But under the Biden administration, the government is making a strong effort to revive antitrust law and use its power to reign in big corporations that have grown too powerful.

We must stop the monopolization of America. This FTC lawsuit against Amazon is a great start.

[nastrahl]

Does anyone on here play #MonopolyGo!? 👀 I need more people to trade cards with.

Download it here:

#MonopolyGo